Residents cope with flood waters

It was a fight against time for
folks at the Stringer Bridge Fire Station in St. Amant Wednesday evening as
sandbags were filled.

"I think everybody is doing same
things getting off work early and just trying to prepare," said Hope Papenburg.

The same went for emergency
response personnel. By nightfall, more than 40 roads had been closed in
Ascension Parish leaving everyone from firefighters to public works crews
struggling to keep up.

"Anytime you get this much rain
dropping that quick of a time like it did. There's not too many waterways that
can hold the water," said St. Amant Fire Chief James LeBlanc.

In Walker, Thomas Adams and his
wife struggle to keep it together. Just over two weeks after moving back into
their house after recovering from Isaac, water was everywhere once again.

"It's disheartening and hurts us
every time this happens," said Adams.

To make matters worse, Thomas has
qualified through Livingston Parish to get federal money to pay for elevating
his home but that money has yet to come in from the government and in the
meantime, he is left to cope with his sixth flooding event in his 15 years as a
homeowner.

"You can't walk away from it and
if you do you're not going to be able to get anything else. You can't sell it,"
said Adams. "If you can't get the house elevated what is someone supposed to do
in this situation."

The fear for Adams and others like him is that there may be more
flooding on the way before it gets better.